At least 9 dead as flooding follows severe storm
Four feared swept away; flights canceled; warnings from Texas to Ohio
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Flooding from Texas to Ohio
Rising water from a series of heavy storms has flooded roads, threatened bridges and caused misery across several states.
PIEDMONT, Mo. - At least nine people died Wednesday as a huge storm system poured as much as 10 inches of rain across a wide swath of the nation's midsection.
Flooding forced hundreds of people to flee their homes and closed scores of roads. Travelers faced long delays after hundreds of flights were grounded by the severe weather.
Five people were killed in a crash in heavy rain on Interstate 65 in south-central Kentucky.
Four deaths were also linked to the flooding in Missouri where another man was declared missing, a search was under way in Texas for a teenager washed down a drainage pipe, and two people were missing in Arkansas after their vehicles were swept away by rushing water.
The National Weather Service posted flood and flash flood warnings from Texas to Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
Heavy rain began falling Monday and just kept coming. About 10 inches had fallen by Wednesday morning in southeast Missouri's Cape Girardeau County, where street flooding marooned some residents in their homes, the State Emergency Management Agency said. The weather service said 6.7 inches of rain fell in 24 hours at Jasper, Ark., and nearly 6 inches had fallen at Evansville, Ind.
'Water rose 3 feet in five minutes'
Scott and Marilyne Peterson and their son, Scott Jr., scurried out of their home near Piedmont, Mo., after seeing water rise 3 feet in five minutes. They had just enough time to grab essentials and their dog.
"You didn't have time to worry," Scott Peterson Sr. said. "You just grab what you can and go and you're glad the people are OK."
The rain in Missouri was expected to finally come to an end Wednesday as the weather system headed toward the northeast.
An estimated 300 houses and businesses were flooded in Piedmont, a town of 2,000 residents on McKenzie Creek. Dozens of people were rescued by boat.
Outside St. Louis, the Meramec River was expected to crest 10 to 15 feet above flood stage at some spots, threatening towns like Eureka and Valley Park, where residents were urged to evacuate. The Missouri River was at or near flood stage through much of central and eastern Missouri.
